Legislators vote on bill to drop ‘mental retardation’ from five state agencies’ administrative codes

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Wisconsin lawmakers are set to vote on a bill that would remove the term “mental retardation” from five state agencies’ administrative codes, even though Democratic Gov. Tony Evers ordered the deletion weeks ago.

The bill calls for replacing the term and derivatives with “intellectual disability” in regulations governing the agencies.

The Senate and Assembly are scheduled to take up the bill Tuesday.

Evers angered the bill’s Republican authors in March when he issued an executive order requiring all state agencies to remove “mental retardation” from their regulations, negating the bill’s effect.